Matthew 25

Matthew 25:1

THE PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS

[Matthew 25. 1 15]

JESUS warns His followers not to seek the things of this world with too much anxiety, and to make a provision of good works, while they yet have time; for that death will come like a thief in the night when least expected. To make them better understand this great truth, He gave them the following parable:

— IX. THE PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS.

“Then¹ shall the kingdom of heaven be like to ten virgins, who, taking their lamps², went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. And five of them were foolish, and five were wise. But the five foolish, having taken their lamps, took no oil with them; but the wise took oil in their vessels with the lamps. While the bridegroom tarried they all slumbered and slept³. And at midnight there was a cry made: ‘Behold, the bridegroom cometh, go ye forth to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed⁴ their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise: ‘Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out.’ The wise answered, saying: ‘Lest there be not enough for us and for you, go you, rather, to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.’

“Now, while they went⁵ to buy, the bridegroom came, and they who were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. But at last came also the other virgins, saying: ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he, answering, said: ‘Amen. I say to you, I know you not.‘⁶ Watch ye, therefore, because ye know not the day nor the hour.‘⁷

COMMENTARY.

The necessity of good works. The ten virgins represent the faithful in general. The bridegroom is our Lord: the marriage-feast is everlasting happiness: the arrival of the bridegroom signifies the judgment, both the particular judgment after death, and the general judgment at the end of time. It is the duty of all the faithful to be ever expecting the arrival of the Divine Bridegroom, who will come to take his own servants to the heavenly banquet. We must be ready to go with him at any time or moment. The wise virgins are those Christians who

¹ Then. i. e. when the time comes for the faithful to be admitted into the kingdom of heaven, it will be with them as it was with the ten virgins.

² Their lamps. Wedding-processions among the Jews usually took place in the evening, by torchlight.

³ Slept. In the house where they awaited the arrival of the bridegroom.

⁴ Trimmed. Pouring fresh oil into them, so that their light might burn brightly. The lamps of the foolish virgins gave a very dim light, because they had not enough oil in them.

⁵ While they went. At that hour the shops were closed, and some time elapsed before those who kept them could open them and attend to the foolish virgins’ wants.

⁶ I know you not. I cannot acknowledge you to be my servants. You are strangers to me, and have no claim to a share in the marriage-feast.

⁷ The hour. When your bridegroom will come. — IXL THE PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS.

stand ready, holding not only the lamp of faith, but also the oil of good works in their hands. The foolish virgins are those bad Christians who have indeed the lamp of faith, but to whom is lacking the oil of active love, and whose faith is therefore dead. They pass their lives carelessly, taking no thought of that eternally decisive moment which is before us all. At midnight, when none of the virgins were expecting him, the bridegroom came! In other words, death took them unawares. Wise or good Christians, even though death may take them by surprise, are always ready to meet the Lord, and enter into eternity; for they have not only kept the faith, but also gained merit. Foolish, careless Christians do not live in accordance with their faith, but put off their conversion till the hour of death. Death comes on them unawares, and then they find out with terror that their faith is dead, and that there is lacking to them the oil of good works. The merits of their fellow-Christians can avail them nothing, and they have no time to gain merits of their own by the performance of good works. For them, indeed, the night has come “when no man can work”! (John 6, 4.) They may wail and cry out “Lord! Lord!” but they will find themselves shut out from heaven, for our Lord Jesus has said: “Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Mat. 7, 21).

Watchfulness. Our Lord Himself points the moral of this parable by His concluding words: “Watch you, therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour (of your death).” We ought to live on the watch, and be always ready for the coming of our Divine Judge, because 1. we know not when we shall be called away; 2. the hour of death is, as a rule, too late for conversion and the gaining of merit; and it is therefore a mischievous act of carelessness to put off conversion till the hour of death.

Prudence is one of the four cardinal virtues. The wise or prudent virgins desired to be admitted to the heavenly marriage feast; therefore they took pains to become worthy of admission by virtues and good works. They avoided sin, and persevered in grace and in the practice of the love of God, and were therefore found ready when death surprised them. The foolish virgins also wished to take part in the banquet, but they did not use those means by which alone they could gain admission. The virtuous are prudent, but sinners are fools!

Dead faith. Even as a lamp goes out when it is not fed with oil, so does faith die, if it is not nourished and sustained by works of piety, mortification and brotherly love.

Humility. It was not from selfishness that the wise virgins refused to share their oil with those who were foolish. Humility made them act thus, because they feared that they would not have enough for themselves. The just do not rely on their good works, but “work out their

— IXII. THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS.

salvation with fear and trembling”. However much good they have done, they confess that they are unprofitable servants, and that their only ground for hope lies in the mercy of God.

APPLICATION. Picture to yourself the consternation and despair of those who are shut out for ever from the happiness of heaven. “We fools!” they will say, “for we might have been saved! We had so many means of grace, so many opportunities of doing good. But we wasted them, and are now, by our own fault, lost for ever!” Do you wish to be one of these unhappy ones? No! Then begin at once, while you are young, to be zealous in the service of God.

Matthew 25:3

THE LAST JUDGMENT

[Matthew 25, 3: 46]

AFTER Jesus had admonished His disciples to prepare for the Last Judgment, He described it to them in these words:

“When the Son of Man shall come in His majesty, and all His angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the seat of His majesty¹. All nations shall be gathered together before Him; and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separate the sheep from the goats². And He shall set the sheep on His right hand³, but the goats on the left.

“Then the King shall say to them that shall be on His right hand: ‘Come, ye blessed⁴ of My Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ – Then shall the just answer Him, saying: ‘Lord, when have we done these things to Thee?’ The King shall answer and say to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, as long as you have done it to one of these, My least brethren, you did it to Me.’

“Then shall He say to them on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me not in; naked, and you clothed Me not; sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then shall they also answer Him, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see Thee

¹ The seat of His majesty. On His judgment-seat. ² Separately. When, in the evening, he pens them in the fold.

³ Goats. The gentle, docile, patient and harmless sheep are taken as a figure of the just; whereas the wild, unruly, quarrelsome and unclean goats are a type of the wicked. This separation of the evil from the good will be made by the angels of God, as we learnt in the parable of the seed and the cockle (chapter XXVIII).

⁴ His right hand. Which is the place of honour.

⁵ Ye blessed. They are styled thus, because the Father has called them through His Son to be heirs of His kingdom, and has showered blessings and graces on them

— EXHIBIT THE LAST JUDGMENT.

hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee? Then He shall answer them: ‘Amen, I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least ones, neither did you do it to Me.’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment, but the just into life everlasting.”

COMMENTARY.

Jesus our Judge. The judgment at the end of the world will be held by our Lord Jesus Christ; and our Redeemer will then be our Judge. The Son of God came into the world the first time in poverty and lowliness: when He comes again to judge us, He will come in power, glory and great majesty. Then those will tremble who have not believed in Him, or who have despised His commandments, His Church, and His Sacraments.

The Angels also will take part in accusing the wicked, and bearing testimony to the just. Then, after the judgment, they will take God’s chosen ones, whose guardians and protectors they were on earth, into the eternal joy of the heavenly marriage-feast.

The judgment will be general. All men, though they have been already judged privately, will stand before God’s judgment-seat, and be judged together and openly.

The Divine Judge will equally make known the good works of the just and the evil deeds of the wicked, so that the former may publicly receive their merited praise and reward, and the latter may be put to open shame; and men and angels may know and confess the justice of the Divine Judge.

The law by which men will be judged is that first commandment of Christ, the law of love, which contains in itself all the other commandments. He who for the love of our Lord has, according to his ability, done good to his fellow-men, and practised a real love of his neighbour springing from his love for God, will be rewarded for what he has done, just as if he had done it to our Lord Himself. But he who has either performed no works of charity, or has not performed them for our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, will stand condemned, because such an one has neither true love nor living faith. We shall therefore be judged not only for the evil which we have done, but also for the good which we have omitted to do.

The sentence will be publicly pronounced. This sentence will be twofold. To the just will be adjudged everlasting life, while the unjust will be banished to hell; both reward and punishment being carried out immediately after the judgment.

40* — LXIII. THE LAST JUDGMENT.

Heaven. The just will go to God. They will live for ever in His sight, having that perfect union with Him which fills them with inconceivable joy and glory.

The punishment of hell consists in this, 1. that the damned are cursed and rejected by God, and deprived of His Vision, in the possession of which alone happiness lies; 2. that they will suffer in fire unquenchable and in the company of devils. The punishment of the damned will be certainly as unending as the happiness of the just.

A comparison of the two sentences shows that the one is the exact opposite of the other:

Come Ye blessed of My Father Possess ye the kingdom Prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Depart from Me

Ye cursed. (Not, ye cursed of the Father, because the sinner himself, not God, is the author of the curse of the unjust.)

into everlasting fire

Prepared for the devil and his angels. (Our Lord does not say “prepared for you”, for God created hell only for the devils, and He “wills that all men be saved”. Moreover hell was not prepared from the beginning of creation, being created only at the time when the angels fell.)

Faith alone cannot save. In the parable of the virgins our Lord taught us plainly that the oil of good works is necessary in addition to the lamp of faith; and He related the parable of the talents for the sole purpose of showing us that he only can be saved who uses the gifts and graces given to him by God, for the practice of works pleasing to God. Now, in the account we have read to-day, our Lord tells us that at the judgment those will be condemned who do not practise works of mercy, and that good works alone can claim the eternal reward of heaven. It is therefore our Lord’s distinct doctrine, that good works are necessary for salvation, and it is almost inconceivable that the comfortable idea that faith alone will save us, should ever have been proclaimed to be the doctrine of Christ!

..

APPLICATION. You also, with the rest of mankind, will be called before the judgment-seat of God. On which side of our Lord do you mean to be? Shall you be among the sheep who have obeyed the voice of their Good Shepherd, or among the goats who have lived according to their own lusts? What a terrible misfortune if you found yourself on the left hand, cursed and rejected by your Lord, separated from those dear to you, and

— LXIV. THE LAST SUPPER: THE WASHING OF THE FEET.

cast into everlasting fire with the devils! To be rejected and cursed by Jesus, and separated for ever from God, who is the source of all happiness, would be such a terrible disaster, that we cannot even picture it to ourselves!

Do you wish to escape this awful fate? Then judge yourself severely now in the holy tribunal of Penance. Accuse yourself sincerely and with a contrite heart both of the sins you have committed, and of the good which you have omitted to do, and make a very firm resolution of amendment. The Sacrament of Penance is the tribunal of God’s mercy. If you present yourself at that tribunal often and with a good preparation, you will not be rejected when you appear before God’s Tribunal at the Last Day.